Rev. Sharpton arrested during protest

ktrk

By ABC13

NEW YORK Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting and the slain man's
fiancee were among about a dozen people arrested on disorderly
conduct charges near the base of the bridge. Police led away
demonstrators at several other bridges and tunnels in the city.

The protests were part of a coordinated campaign to urge federal
authorities to investigate the November 2006 shooting of Sean Bell.
Three officers were acquitted of state charges last month.

Sharpton, shooting survivors Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman,
and Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, lined up and peacefully
put their hands behind their backs as police put plastic handcuffs
on them. Sharpton and Bell were placed in a police vehicle.

The civil rights leader is seeking a federal civil rights probe
into Bell's shooting outside a Queens nightclub. The case raised
questions about police use of deadly force in minority
neighborhoods.

Sharpton had promised recently to "close this city down" with
civil disobedience.

Bell was black, as are his friends Benefield and Guzman; the
three officers acquitted in the case are Hispanic, black and white.

U.S. attorney spokesman Robert Nardoza said the case was under
review, but he declined to comment further.